Science is everywhere from 7-12 September when the British Science Festival comes to Newcastle and Life Science Centre, as a supporting partner, joins in the fun with an abundance of family and adult events to add further diversity to the programme.

Life will be celebrating the opening day of the festival with a jam-packed day of family activities starting with Dr Bunhead, a man who turns science into a burning, bubbling, exploding ball of fun and positively encourages brave volunteers to get up on stage and help him with his show, ‘Volcano Head with Dr Bunhead’. (Tickets cost £5 per person).

He explains: “It’s all about the build-up of pressure, the effects of temperature and explaining all the ‘bits and pieces’ like lava, magma, the pyroclastic flow ….in simple terms this is a story about squeezing a spot but on a massive geographical scale! It’s about how the earth vents its pressure.”

There will also be free performances from BBC1’s The One Show presenter, Marty Jopson and science comedienne Helen Keen.

Marty’s show at 2pm, is entitled ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’ and tells the story of how Newton came up with his ideas on gravity. He said: “It’s a series of simple demos, stunts and tricks, some of which can be tried at home and I’ll be setting fire to some things and making a mess with eggs”.

Helen Keen will present ‘Space race!, a family show based on her popular Radio 4 series ‘It is rocket science’. She said: “Its space-based silliness with lots of audience participation promised! As a small child I was completely enraptured by space, and so I've tried to create a show that includes lots of my own childhood enthusiasms - space rockets, stamps comets, even dinosaurs!"

Visitors who go on after the shows to visit inside the Life Science Centre will find the Curious Chemistry Show within the Science Theatre, a Colour Chemistry Workshop, a special planetarium show, Making Waves exploring wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum and an opportunity to meet scientists from the University of Hull and learn about the potted history of liquid crystal. Added to this visitors can enjoy the Age of the dinosaur exhibition, the 4D Motion Ride, the Curiosity Zone and Young Explorers Zone for the under 7’s. To find out more or to book tickets for Dr Bunhead, visit www.life.org.uk or telephone (0191) 243 8210.

For the full list of Centre for Life British Science Festival events, visit www.life.org.uk